I was pretty keen to get onto this week’s reading, as it was all about modern feminism, and the way that translates into representations of women in popular music videos. To be honest, it was a bit dense and theoretical for me, but a few cultural touchstones helped me get a few key points out of it. For example, the first part of the reading focused on Pink’s Stupid Girls.

Believe it or not, V-Hits had shown this video as part of their ‘Flashback Friday’ segment just a few days before I did the reading, so it was fresh in my mind (I take back all my criticism of being subjected to V-Hits at the gym). While I’m not a huge Pink fan, I’ve always admired her strong personality and musical prowess, and like most people (I suspect), I’ve always seen the video for Stupid Girls to be one of her most powerful feminist statements. The video’s criticism of plastic surgery, spray tans and all things fake seems to be an encouragement for girls to shake off society’s beauty expectations for more authentic, strong personalities.

However, the reading made a very interesting point that questioned whether the video was feminist at all. Because while Pink’s video on the one hand encourages girls to value themselves and their true appearances, it also ruthlessly criticises women who choose the lifestyle of beauty regimens and cosmetic surgery. Can the video still be considered feminist if it attacks women? Indeed, can a video entitled Stupid Girls be anything other than misogynist?

Maybe I’m getting a little carried away, but this sort of duality that the reading highlights in representations of women in music videos particularly struck a chord with me, as it is something I have long considered with regards to depictions of female sexuality.

When it comes to music videos, sex is never very far away. And I’m okay with that. I like to think I’m not a prude, and with music being an ultimately emotional art form, it’s to be expected that there’s going to be music (and therefore music videos) about sex. But of course, that doesn’t mean that all depictions of sexuality in music videos are completely benign. As a feminist I often see women in music videos in positions that seem to me to be demeaning – Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines comes to mind as a recent example of a video that raised ire.

However, having acknowledged the role of sex in the music video industry, do I have a right to tell these women not to be sexual? If memory serves me correctly, after Blurred Lines was released one of the models in it made a Facebook post saying how pleased she was to be part of the project, which no doubt boosted her career considerably. As a feminist, do I not have to respect these women’s choices in being a part of this project?

In the case of Blurred Lines, I still err on the side of ‘they’re being objectified by men and that’s not okay’, but in other cases, well – the lines are more blurred. The example that comes to mind for me is Miley Cyrus, about whom I have kind of had an about-face. I used to see her revealing outfits, sex references and whacky stunts as trashy; however, as a feminist it drives me mad that men can be ‘players’ where women are ‘sluts’, so I had to ask myself: did I have a right to judge Miley for her sexuality? In fact, some of her more recent comments regarding her sexuality and her typically controversial but I think extraordinarily brave move to ditch her underarm razor show a strong, considered, feminist perspective.

Wow, that turned into an essay quickly! Feminism inspires me to diatribes like this. And I guess issues like these will never be black and white, so it’s just a matter of watching and deciding for ourselves: